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    Indiana Football: Offseason Update (January 30th)

    Mike SchumannBy IU Football No Comments

    Periodically during the Indiana football offseason we will update you on the news and notes involving the IU football program.  Of course if there is major news we will provide that in real-time.

    Here’s the latest with the Hoosiers.

    INTRODUCING KALEN DEBOER

    Tom Allen introduced IU’s new offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer on Friday.  This is what the new playcaller said about his offensive philosophy:

    “Yeah, well, it’s going to be all revolved around what it takes to win, first of all, and there’s a fine line between excitement, right, and putting people in the stands and getting people excited about what we do offensively, and then making sure we’re not putting our team in a vulnerable position. But really what it comes down to offensively is taking care of the football, and then having more explosives than your opponent. And when you do that, you’re going to win over 90 percent of the time. You know, we want to make sure we’re putting the points on the board, but we’re also not so reckless that we’re putting our defense in a vulnerable position. And so it’s a team game that we’re going to be a part of. You know, do we want to be physical — the game was meant to be played one way when it comes down to it, and that’s physical. A lot of people think that means running the football, but that’s also what you do with the ball after you have it in your hands. Falling ahead for extra yards gives you better down and distances to work with, which makes for better 3rd down conversions and higher red zone, as we’ve been talking about here.

    But you know, to just create — in the end, it comes down to creating an attitude, and you don’t install it with plays. You know, a lot of plays are kind of cool and guys like those and they can feel it, and they know it’s going to be big, but in the end, it’s how you manipulate it and how you create the attitude that I think ends up with a product on the field that’s exciting to watch.”

    You can read more about his background and also listen to a radio interview that he gave with a station in his college town of Sioux Falls here.

    SIGNING DAY 2.0 A WEEK AWAY

    The 2019 recruiting class is on track to be the best ever for Indiana in the rankings service era of college football.  With 20 players signed during the early period in December, IU has five openings remaining for the February 6th traditional signing day.

    The biggest needs right now are in the trenches on both sides of the football.

    For offensive line targets, in-state tackle Dawand Jones (Ben Davis) is an intriguing possibility but the competition is fierce with Florida, Ohio State, Penn State and USC in his five finalists.  Jonathan Allen (Ohio), Ira Henry (Missouri), and Danielson Ike (Missouri,) are the other high profile names to watch right now.

    The top defensive line targets are Latrell Jean (Florida) and Kristian Williams (Tennessee).

    The Hoosiers are also still strong contenders for safety Cecil Powell (Florida) and receiver TJ Jones (Florida).  Those are both positions of continuing need right now as well.

    The program is going to host a signing day preview (open to the public) before the basketball game against Iowa on February 7th:

    HOOSIERS AT THE ALL-STAR EVENTS

    Four former IU stars participated in college football postseason all-star events over the last month, showcasing their talents to NFL scouts and executives:

    • Dan Godsil — Reese’s Senior Bowl (Jan. 26)
    • Nick Linder — East-West Shrine Game (Jan. 19)
    • Brandon Knight — NFLPA Collegiate Bowl (Jan. 19)
    • Delroy Baker — College Gridiron Showcase & Symposium (Jan. 5-9).

    Indiana head coach Tom Allen was able to catch up with Godsil at the Senior Bowl:

    Former IU head coach Gerry DiNardo was impressed with Linder —

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